47 Merchants Quay, Newry, Co Down, BT35 8HE

47 Merchants Quay, Newry

A three-storey warehouse dating from the 1840s, set in a terrace fronting Merchant's Quay. This is the least altered of all the canalside warehouses that once dominated the quay during Newry's heyday of maritime trade. The building is constructed using local materials and retains characteristic in-line loading doors typical of commercial warehouses of its era.

The front elevation has a pitched natural slate roof with a rendered chimney on the left gable and plastic rainwater goods. The walls are of painted cement render, lined on the upper floors. Stepped quoins of rendered stone partially survive on the second floor. The ground floor facade contains, from left to right: a modern rectangular three-paned window opening with metal security grille; a fixed one-paned modern window with metal grill; a projecting stone of unknown function between these two windows; a tongue-and-groove door; and at the extreme right a semi-elliptical headed coach arch leading through to the rear yard. The two tongue-and-groove doors are set within vee-jointed ashlar jambs with wheel guards at the base and ashlar voussoirs above.

The first and second floors each have four openings aligned vertically. All contain fixed one-paned windows with security grilles, granite jambs and lintels, but no cills, except for the second opening from the left on the first floor, which is a tongue-and-groove sheeted loading door. The corresponding opening on the second floor has been infilled and brought flush with the wall surface. Above the latter is a projecting hoisting beam with two pulley blocks and no gablet. Above the window and door opening at left on the first floor is a recessed rectangular plaque reading "James McMahon 1843". To the right of this plaque are the remains of a fascia board reading "F.V. Harty & Co Ltd Solid Fuel Importers". Both gables are abutted by adjoining buildings, with exposed sections finished in cement render.

The rear elevation is constructed of random granite rubble. The ground floor has a coach arch at left, now fitted with a modern metal gate, and to its right are two 3/3 sliding sash windows with exposed boxes and metal bars; a brick relieving arch spans above the right window. The upper floors each have three shuttered window openings in line with one another, featuring granite cills and keystoned lintels. A brick chimney rises from the ground floor immediately to the right of the middle window and breaks the eaves, terminating in concrete blockwork. Along the rear wall is a shallow semi-elliptical arch, approximately 2 metres high, now infilled with coursed rubble. Its quoins and voussoirs are of roughly dressed granite blocks with splayed voussoirs rising from projecting spring stones.

Historical records indicate that James McMahon, a ship owner and shipping agent, occupied a house, stores and yard at this location. The 1843 datestone marks a rebuild rather than a refurbishment, as confirmed by differences between the building's dimensions and those recorded in the First Valuation book of 1838. The Second Valuation of 1863 identifies the property as a store. During the 1840s famine period, McMahon owned and chartered emigrant ships that plied between Warrenpoint and North America. A photograph from around 1950 shows the building much as it appears today, although a chimney then existed on the right gable. The hoisting beam and pulleys that were visible on the front elevation have since been removed.